87 percent of Asia Pacific (APAC) manufacturers prioritize digital transformation; yet 82 percent struggle with innovation pace, a study showed Tuesday.
Zebra Technologies Corporation said in its findings of its 2024 Manufacturing Vision Study that globally, 61 percent of manufacturers expect AI to drive growth by 2029, up from 41 percent in 2024.
In APAC, 68 percent of manufacturers expect AI to drive growth by 2029, increasing from 46 percent in 2024.
This surge in AI adoption, combined with 92 percent global and 87 percent of APAC survey respondents prioritizing digital transformation, underscores manufacturers’ intent to improve data management and leverage new technologies that enhance visibility and quality throughout the manufacturing process.
While digital transformation is a priority for manufacturers, around 30 percent to 40 percent of global and APAC respondents recognize achieving it is fraught with obstacles, including the cost and availability of labor, scaling technology solutions, and the convergence of information technology and operational technology (IT/OT).
It is noted that visibility is the first step to transformation – through adopting AI and other new technologies.
This enables manufacturers to leverage data more effectively to identify, react and prioritize problems and projects to deliver incremental efficiencies across the manufacturing process, ensuring the greatest impact upfront.
“Manufacturers often face challenges in effectively utilizing their data,
““This is where AI and other digital technologies come into play, to foster an agile and efficient manufacturing environment,” said Christanto Suryadarma, Sales Vice President for Southeast Asia (SEA), South Korea and Channel APJeC Zebra Technologies.
Although manufacturers say digital transformation is a strategic priority, achieving a fully connected factory remains elusive, according to the study.
Visibility is key to optimizing efficiency, productivity, and quality on the plant floor, yet a large visibility gap exists, it said.
Meanwhile, only 16 percent of manufacturing leaders globally report they have real-time, work-in-progress (WIP) monitoring across the entire manufacturing process, while this is true for more of APAC manufacturing leaders, at 25 percent.
While nearly six in ten (57 percent globally, 63 percent in APAC) manufacturing leaders expect to increase visibility across production and throughout the supply chain by 2029, around one-third of leaders (33 percent globally, 38 percent in APAC) say getting IT and OT to agree on where to invest is a key barrier to digital transformation.
Adding to these obstacles, 86 percent of global manufacturing leaders agree they are struggling to keep up with the pace of technological innovation and to securely integrate devices, sensors, and technologies throughout their facilities and supply chain, with 82 percent of APAC manufacturing leaders in agreement.
The study also found manufacturers are shifting their growth strategies by integrating and augmenting workers with AI and other technologies to transform manufacturing and build a skilled workforce over the next five years.
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of global manufacturing leaders plan to reskill labor to enhance data and technology usage skills, as seven in ten expect to augment workers with mobility-enabling technology.
These sentiments were shared by 76 percent and 75 percent of APAC manufacturing leaders respectively.
The technology tools being implemented by manufacturing leaders include tablets (51 percent globally, 52 percent in APAC), mobile computers (55 percent globally, 53 percent in APAC), and workforce management software (56 percent globally, 62 percent in APAC).
In addition, six in ten of manufacturing leaders (61 percent globally, 65 percent in APAC) plan to leverage wearable mobile computers to augment their evolving workforce.
Meanwhile, manufacturing leaders across the C-Suite, IT, and OT understand how labor initiatives must extend beyond improving worker efficiency and productivity with technology.
Six in ten of global and APAC leaders rank ongoing development, retraining/upskilling, and career path development to attract future talent as a high priority for their organizations.
“Technological innovations, such as machine vision and deep learning OCR solutions, are opening doors for manufacturers to excel in an era marked by rapid technological advancement and growing requirements for speed, safety, and precision,
“Beyond just adopting technology, businesses need to be prepared and equipped to continually transcend current capabilities. The future of manufacturing demands a symbiotic relationship between technology and human expertise to redefine the essence of manufacturing,” said Tan Aik Jin, APAC Solutions Lead for Manufacturing and Singapore ZEC, Zebra Technologies.
Overall, the quest for quality has intensified as manufacturers across segments must do more with fewer resources.
According to the survey, manufacturing leaders say today’s most significant quality management issues are real-time visibility (33 percent globally, 40 percent in APAC), keeping up with new standards and regulations (29 percent globally, 30 percent in APAC), integrating data (27 percent globally, 31 percent in APAC), and maintaining traceability (27 percent globally and in APAC).
It is noted that manufacturing leaders’ technology implementation plans will address these challenges.
Over the next five years, many plan to implement robotics (65 percent globally, 72 percent in APAC), machine vision (66 percent globally and in APAC), radio frequency identification (RFID) (66 percent globally, 72 percent in APAC), and fixed industrial scanners (57 percent globally, 62 percent in APAC).
Most manufacturing leaders agree these automation solutions are driven by a variety of factors including the need to provide the workforce with high-value tasks (70 percent globally, 75 percent in APAC), achieve service level agreements (69 percent globally, 70 percent in APAC), and add more flexibility to the plant floor (64 percent globally, 66 percent in APAC).
While only 30 percent of manufacturing leaders use machine vision across the plant floor in APAC, 67 percent are implementing or planning to deploy this technology within the next five years.
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